Web User - UK (2020-01-22)

66 22 Jan - 4 Feb 2020

LINUX

Install software for Linux

Q

I recently read the letters in Issue

489 (bit.ly/webuser489) from Tony

Franks and P Staniforth about using

Linux on older machines. I have

downloaded some software to Linux

Mint on an old Acer Aspire 5733Z,

but I can’t work out how to install the

program. The software in question

is a simulated Radio Ham program from

http://www.hamsphere4.com.

I managed to download the program

to Windows 10 and run it, but Linux

doesn’t use the same EXE files to run

software so I’m baffled about how

to progress. I would very much

appreciate any help as my computer

really struggles with Windows 10.

Don Phillips, via email

A

Linux is a completely different

operating system to Windows,

which means Windows programs won’t

run on it. You could try running the

software in a Windows emulator for

Linux – there’s one called Wine (www

.winehq.org) – but, ideally, you should

be running native Linux software on

Linux and Windows software on

Windows.

Go to the download page of the

HamSphere website and you’ll see

downloads for Windows, Linux, macOS

and Android. To run the program on

Linux, you need to download the Linux

version of the software.

The ease with which this program can

be run depends on your version of Linux

and what other software you have

installed. Some Linux versions make the

process more complicated.

The download is called something like

‘hamsphere_4.010-setup.tar.gz’ and it

will probably end up in your Downloads

folder. Open the Terminal window, then

change to the Downloads folder by

entering cd Downloads. The program

is in a compressed archive and must be

extracted. At the Terminal command

prompt, enter tar zxvf

hamsphere_4.010.setup.tar.gz.

The setup file must then be made

executable by changing a flag. Enter

chmod +x hamsphere_4.009_setup.

You can now run the setup program by

Q

Thank you for the reply in Issue

490 (bit.ly/webuser490)

regarding my problem with System

Restore but, unfortunately, I still

haven’t found a solution. I followed

your instructions until I got to System

Properties but there were no drives

displayed. A message said: “Could not

re-scan the drives for the following

reason: System Restore encountered

an error. Please try to run system

restore again. Ox18000203.”

Is there anything else I can try?

Kevin O’Brien, via email

A

There are a few other options.

Press Windows+R and enter

services.msc. Look for the

following services: Microsoft Storage

Spaces SMP, Volume Shadow Copy

and Microsoft Software Shadow Copy

says ‘volsnap EUBKMON EUBAKUP’

but only the ‘volsnap’ word may be

important. Double-click UpperFilters

and type volsnap to see if that helps.

Fix a persistent System Restore problem

GENERAL PC

Turn on System Protection and give it a few

gigabytes of space for backups

Ask the Expert

Roland Waddilove, computer programmer and PC

journalist since 1981, answers all your technical questions.

Email us for help at [email protected]

Provider. Double-click each one and

click the Start button, then set the

‘Startup type’ to Automatic.

Go to the Control Panel and, in

one of the ‘icons’ views, choose

System, then ‘System Protection’.

Select the C: drive and click

Configure. Give it at least 5GB of

hard-drive space, then click OK.

Now try creating a restore point by

clicking the Create button.

Some people have found that

Kaspersky Removal Tool

accidentally deletes an important

Registry key. Press Windows+R,

enter regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \

SYSTEM \CurrentControlSet \Control \

Class \{71a27cdd-812a-11d0-bec7-

08002be2092f}

Look at the UpperFilters value. Ours

HamSphere is a virtual radio-ham rig for Windows, Linux, macOS and Android